61 Acres Preserved in East Amwell, Hunterdon County

Man, East Amwell always turns up on this blog. Longterm plan: move to East Amwell.

This article originally appeared on the Hunterdon County Democrat:

East Amwell Township is a rural haven tucked away in the southeast corner of the county. The township has worked for many years to make East Amwell a place where farming comes first. That commitment has paid off, and the township is home to many preserved farms, including a 61-acre farm on Wertsville Road recently preserved by the township with the help of the Hunterdon Land Trust.

“We have wanted to preserve this farm for many years,” said Dick Ginman, a member of the township’s farmland and open space committee. “We are indebted to Kate Buttolph (Hunterdon Land Trust’s director of acquisition and stewardship) for working with the owner to make this preservation happen.”

The recently preserved property adjoins other preserved farms and is in an area of interest for both East Amwell Township and the Hunterdon Land Trust. East Amwell Township’s farmland preservation plan recognizes that “agriculture is important in East Amwell’s history and its future, providing a rural lifestyle valued by farmers and non-farmers alike, while also contributing breathtaking scenic views, promoting the local economy and utilizing a valuable natural resource.” The farm on Wertsville Road is a perfect example of the type of place that the township’s plan is geared to protect. It is surrounded by other large farms and across the street from East Amwell Elementary school that together create a beautiful and peaceful rural vista. It is one of four properties totaling 243 acres preserved in East Amwell over the past year.

“It is a pleasure to partner with townships like East Amwell that value the many benefits of preserving their farming legacy,” said Patricia Ruby, executive director of the Hunterdon Land Trust. “In addition to ensuring we’ll always have access to local, healthy food, preserving farmland is a sound investment in many ways including future farmers, flood control, and wildlife habitat.”

In a recently completed comprehensive land preservation plan, the Hunterdon Land Trust also identified the area of the newly preserved farm as one of particular interest due to its agricultural soils and its proximity to the headwaters of the Neshanic River. The Neshanic is a major tributary to the South Branch of the Raritan and vital to the water quality within the Raritan basin. “I am so pleased that East Amwell and the Hunterdon Land Trust were able to partner to protect this property,” said Kate Buttolph of the Hunterdon Land Trust. “This farm fit perfectly with both of our goals and will help ensure that a rural way of life in Hunterdon County will endure for future generations to enjoy.”

In addition to the Hunterdon Land Trust and East Amwell Township, The New Jersey Office of Natural Lands Management has recognized the importance of preserving land in East Amwell. Much of the township is part of a designated Natural Heritage Priority Site due to its significance for grassland wildlife, particularly ground nesting birds including the state-threatened Bobolinks and Savannah Sparrows and species of state-special concern Eastern Meadowlarks.

Funding for preserving the 61-acre property, which is currently a horse farm, was obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Federal Farm and Ranchland Program, in the amount of $158,119 and East Amwell Township in the amount of $141,881.

Incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1996, the Hunterdon Land Trust is committed to protecting the rural landscapes and natural resources of Hunterdon County. The land trust works with landowners interested in preserving their land through donation or sale of land or development rights. To learn more about land preservation in Hunterdon County please visit hunterdonlandtrust.org.

DEP Grant Preserves Ocean County Boy Scout Reservation

One benefit to Election Season: A lot of these deals move through much quicker, as to help the ruling party look better. When it comes to acres, I'll take it!

Post originally appeared on Ocean County Family & Community News:

Barnegat-(PR)–An agreement that will permanently preserve a 544-acre tract in the Barnegat Bay watershed in Ocean County was completed today when the Department of Environmental Protection acquired a conservation easement from the Jersey Shore Boy Scout Council and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, DEP Commissioner Bob Martin announced.

The $1.1 million agreement with the Scout Council will preserve the Joseph A. Citta Boy Scout Reservation Camp in Ocean Township, which contains camping facilities used by the Boy Scouts and many other outdoor user groups. The property, which offers public hiking trails, also is environmentally important, containing Pine Barrens habitat in the headwaters of the Oyster Creek, which is a tributary to Barnegat Bay.



The preserved land will link Ocean County’s Wells Mill Park to other preserve land in the Forked River Mountains, an ecologically unique area of rolling forests in the Pinelands National Reserve. The Scouts will be able to continue to own and manage the camp for camping and recreational use, and in turn have extinguished their development rights on the property while agreeing to providing a public trail system linking other open space.

As part of the 544-acre preservation deal, the Conservation Foundation assigned to the DEP an 84-acre conservation easement that it held since the 1970s on a portion of the Citta Camp. This acreage was included in the purchase agreement at no cost to the state.


This 544-acre easement acquisition brings the state’s total of preserved land in the Barnegat Bay watershed to 2,895 acres since Governor Christie announced his comprehensive 10-point Barnegat Bay restoration plan in December of 2010.

“New Jersey Conservation Foundation is pleased to play a role in the preservation of the Joseph A. Citta Scout Reservation,” said Michele S. Byers, executive director of New Jersey Conservation Foundation. “The Boy Scouts had the foresight to preserve 84 acres of the camp with New Jersey Conservation Foundation back in 1979, and we congratulate them and the Department of Environmental Protection for now preserving the entire camp"

Byers noted that over the past 30 years, New Jersey Conservation Foundation and the DEP have worked together, and with other partners, to preserve thousands of acres in the Forked River Mountain area of Ocean and Lacey townships.

The easement purchase is financed by $1.1 million in voter-approved state Green Acres Program funds. Ocean County provided funding for the survey work needed for the acquisition.

Stewardship of this easement will be provided by DEP’s Green Acres Program and the Division of Parks and Forestry as part of Brendan T. Byrne State Forest. The trails through the Boy Scout Camp will be an expansion of the trail system at Wells Mill County Park and open for public use.

Commissioner Martin first announced a pending deal for the Citta Camp in December, 2011 at an event to mark the first anniversary of Governor Christie’s Barnegat Bay plan. At that time the agreement called for a 436-acre easement purchase. But detailed surveying of the Scout Council’s tract found it to be much larger, resulting in a 544-acres easement purchase, with an adjusted extra cost of $56,681.

Denville to Knock Down 11 Homes, Return to Open Space

This is at least one very good thing to come out of Hurricane Irene's fury last year!

This article originally appeared in The Citizen:

DENVILLE – It’s been about a year since Tropical Storm Irene lashed out on Denville and the surrounding areas, not to mention a good portion of the East Coast.

But on Tuesday, Aug. 14, residents of Riverside Drive finally saw some light at the end of a dark, stormy tunnel.

 

The council passed an ordinance that allows the township to purchase eleven residential properties for a total of $3.7 million through funding from the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, the state Green Acres Program and Morris County.

With the grants the township will buy the homes, knock them to the ground and create an open space area.

“We have to have the properties restored to their natural state,” Denville Business Administrator Steven Ward said on Monday.

Denville was hit hard during last August’s tropical storm, experiencing unprecedented damage. But Riverside Drive was one of the worst hit areas.

“The (eleven) properties were just decimated,” Ward said.

“Five were abandoned.”

During the storm the surge from the Rockaway River was 9.5 feet, far surpassing the previous high of 6.22 feet, according to Department of Public Works (DPW) Supervisor John Egbert in August 2011.

“We have been declared a disaster area,” Michael Feravolo, the township’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) coordinator said, immediately following last year’s tropical storm.

Seventy-five businesses and 350 homes were affected to some degree, Ward said, which made choosing how to use the funding a bit of challenge.

“We had a rough idea of how many homes we could acquire,” Ward said.

Ward and other Denville officials then mapped out where Tropical Storm Irene and other storms hit the hardest, perused Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) data and identified a group of neighboring homeowners who were interested in the buyouts—Riverside Drive.

The area of Riverside Drive suffers from even moderate storms, Ward said.

“This is one of the worst areas in town,” Ward said.

The purchases will likely be closed on in the first or second week of October,

“Once the closings take place, we'll be bringing in a contractor to demolish the properties and restore them to their natural state,” Ward said.

Hopefully, the entire process will be done by the end of the year, he added.

44 Wooded Acres Preserved on Schooley's Mountain, Morris County

I have a work associate that lives in this area, and I am supremely jealous.

Original press release courtesy NJConservation.org:

 WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP – The green belt of preserved land on Schooley’s Mountain is growing, thanks to New Jersey Conservation Foundation and its partners.

New Jersey Conservation Foundation, a private nonprofit organization, just purchased a 44-acre property off Zellers Road. The parcel is surrounded by more than 1,000 acres of preserved farmland and open space.

“We’re very pleased to add this property to the impressive inventory of preserved land in the Schooley’s Mountain area, and make it available to the public for passive recreation like hiking and nature observation,” said Michele S. Byers, executive director of New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

The property was purchased for $370,000, using funding from the Morris County Preservation Trust, the Victoria Foundation, the state Green Acres Program and the Washington Township Land Trust. The Teetertown Brook, a pristine, trout-producing tributary of the South Branch of the Raritan River, flows through the property. The South Branch is a drinking water supply for more than 1.5 million New Jersey residents.

 “The Morris County freeholders are delighted to partner in this project with these groups who value, as we do, the preservation of open space and the protection of our essential water resources,” commented Freeholder Ann Grossi.

The wooded property includes habitat for several endangered and threatened species, including the bobcat, barred owl and longtail salamander. The Newark-based Victoria Foundation, in addition to providing funding toward the purchase of the property, also gave $10,000 to assist with the stewardship of the land.

 “Victoria Foundation is firmly committed to open space preservation and stewardship, particularly for protecting water quality,” said Dale Robinson Anglin, senior program officer with Victoria Foundation. “We are pleased to continue our long-term partnership with the New Jersey Conservation Foundation to preserve this critically important property.”

The property is located near the Columbia Trail and Hunterdon County’s Teetertown Preserve, and is a short distance southwest of New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s Drakestown preserve, also in Washington Township. It is located in the “Special Environmental Zone” designated in the Highlands Regional Master Plan, meaning it has the highest priority ranking for preservation.

“The Washington Township Land Trust is delighted to use part of our state Green Acres grant toward this purchase of this property, which will provide recreation while protecting wildlife habitat and our water supply,” said Karen Richards, president of the land trust.

New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s mission is to preserve land and natural resources throughout New Jersey for the benefit of all. Since 1960, the Foundation has helped preserve more than 120,000 acres of open space and farmland. For more information on the Foundation’s programs and preserves, visit www.njconservation.org or call 1-888-LAND-SAVE (1-888-526-3728).

Princeton Nurseries, 1,900 Acres, Preserved

This is a big, big, big one that pretty much anyone in the know already knows about. But, since this is a site of record, and we are definitely acre whores around here, it's certainly one that must be included.

This article originally appeared in Times of Trenton. Photograph by Michael Mancuso:

A wide swath of rolling hills and rich farmland in three counties ... will will be permanently preserved after the state finalized a $28 million purchase yesterday from a family that cultivated the land for generations.

The land runs in large part along Crosswicks Creek and stretches across 1,900 acres in Mercer, Monmouth and Burlington counties, the Department of Environmental Protection said. It will be used for open space, farms and wildlife refuges.

“This has been a long time in the works, and this is a wonderful opportunity for the central part of New Jersey,” DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said. “It’s beautiful property, surrounded by rolling countryside, and we’re going to preserve some spectacular scenery.”

The terrain covers nearly three square miles, including the largest portion in Upper Freehold and the rest in Hamilton and North Hanover. It was previously part of Princeton Nurseries, once one of the largest commercial plant nurseries in the country.

Founded by the Flemer family in 1913, the company moved to Allentown in the 1980s and its former properties were gradually developed, sold to Princeton University and other buyers or targeted for preservation.

“Future generations of farmers and nature lovers will together enjoy these beautiful lands that have meant so much to the William Flemer and John Flemer families,” the family said in a DEP news release. “We are grateful to the people of the state of New Jersey for their support of the preservation of precious open space and irreplaceable farmland in our state.”

Covering an area where the three counties meet, the purchase will help connect thousands of acres of existing county park lands and greenways along the creek, the DEP said. It includes grasslands, mature forests and forested wetland, and recreational activities such as hiking, horseback riding, fishing, hunting and bicycle riding will be available throughout.

More than 1,000 acres will be preserved as open space, including a 512-acre state wildlife management area, which will be overseen by the DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife. An additional 847 acres will be permanently available for agricultural uses thanks to the acquisition of development rights on the land, the agency said.

“Everyone always kind of had their eye on this property for preservation, but not until (the Flemer family members) were ready did we pursue anything,” said Renee Jones, a spokeswoman for the DEP’s Green Acres program. “We had many, many, many meetings about how to divide out the property, about what the owners wanted to keep as farmland versus what they wanted as open space.”

Funding came from several sources, including Green Acres Program, the State Agriculture Development Committee and Burlington and Monmouth counties. Mercer County contributed $1.6 million, according to the law firm Drinker Biddle, whose Princeton office represented the Flemer family in the deal.